Motherhood, Craftiness & Other Lovely Things

DIY – Anthropologie Inspired Flag Bunting Necklace

I absolutely love this necklace, but with the $70 price tag I was like, ummmmmm… let me try.

(What can I say? I be cheap.)

Supplies:

leather scraps (I found mine on clearance at the fabric store, but you could just as easily cut up an old purse or jacket or… pants? hee)

acrylic paint & paintbrush

necklace chain & jump rings

thin ribbon

scissors

a thick needle

Cut out several triangles from your leather. I ended up using 9 for this necklace.

This part was definitely an experiment. Being that I was using only supplies I had on hand at home & was trying to make this as cheap of a project as possible, acrylic paint was my only option. I’m no expert on paint, but I’m sure there’s another type that will last longer and hold up better. For now though, this works.

I poked teeny little holes in the flags with a needle, looped the jump rings through, and linked them all together side by side. About halfway through this process I thought to myself, “AHHH. Why didn’t I just glue this to the chain?”. It would’ve been a lot easier to assemble it that way, but I am no quitter. No siree.

(But I really, really wanted to.)

Attach the necklace chain to both ends of the linked flags. Tie a sweet little ribbon to the chain and call it a day… you’re done, sista.

The total cost for this knock-off necklace was about $5, since the only thing I purchased was the leather. Not too shabby!

You should check out this site, she’s always doing Anthropologie necklace tutorials. The latest one she has on there is my favorite and makes me want to learn how to sew even more than I already do right now.http://www.flamingotoes.com/

I actually do have a pair of black pleather legging-like pants… hehe… bought them on ebay for 99 cents from a seller who was selling a bunch of victoria’s secret London Jeans and got free shipping… wore them for halloween last year as part of my rocker costume… toyed with the idea of making them into maternity pants just because the idea of a pair of pleather legging maternity pants gave me a massive case of the giggles, but sadly, I never did it….

I think there is a special acrylic based leather paint that you are supposed to use along with some special prep solution that helps the leather absorb the paint. In any case your version is cute and by the time the paint wears off you’ll probably be ready for another Anthro DIY, right? ;)

cute! Looks just like the real thing.
I think its better that you did clasp them onto the necklace instead of using glue, looks more authentic :-)
and if the paint wears off it can look a little vintage :-)

Thanks for the hint. I found it much easier to cut diamond-shaped pieces and fold them over an eyepin, no hole-making, loops are ready in the pin and the flag becomes sturdier and won’t turn or roll around the edges. Will post pics of mine in my blog soon!